King Holds Talks with Blair and Heads for the US to Meet with BushAmman, 29 July 2002

His Majesty King Abdullah II held talks in London on Monday with the British Prime Minister Tony Blair on ways of putting an end to the escalating situation in the Palestinian lands and ease the suffering of the Palestinian people.

During the meeting which was attended by Royal Court chief and Jordan's ambassador in London, the King underlined the need for concerted international efforts to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in the Palestinian lands due to the Israeli blockade, the shortage in food and medicine, malnutrition of Palestinian children and the destruction of infrastructure and houses of Palestinians.

The King and Blair stressed the importance of investing all elements of the peace process and linking them with a clear and specific working plan that is accepted by all concerned parties in addition to the international community.

Both His Majesty and the British prime minister stressed the importance of focusing at this stage on the political process and finding a quick solution to the security situation through a working plan that takes into consideration references of the Madrid conference, UN resolution 1397, the Arab initiative and the US speech in which US President George Bush expressed his commitment to establish an independent Palestinian state within three years.

Talks during the meeting also covered threats to strike Iraq. The King renewed Jordan's rejection to launch an attack against Iraq, affirming that dialogue is the only way to solve differences with Iraq and implement UN Security council resolutions.

His Majesty thanked the British prime minister for his government's support to Jordan during meetings of the Paris Club which resulted in rescheduling $1.2 million of Jordan's debts.

Their Majesties King Abdullah II and Queen Rania Al Abdullah later flew to Washington where His Majesty will meet US President George Bush in an effort to end the Israeli occupation and ease the suffering of the Palestinian people.